My thoughts on Veigar (not just another complaining thread)

So this is coming from someone who never used to play Veigar pre-rework, but picked him up post-rework and started loving him. I want to start by saying a lot of people don't understand why Riot nerfed his E so that it had a delay. The reason was because it was OP as hell. You're probably thinking, no one even played Veigar though? Well in Korean competitive, he was literally permabanned because supports began to use him so much since they realized how amazing his E was in team fights. Someone slightly out of position? Instastun. Get engaged on? Instastun the entire team. Want to start a fight? Flash instastun multiple players on their team. It was also a ridiculous zoning tool, that made it really difficult for enemy teams to fight around. Think of it as a Thresh box that is ranged (and you can control where you throw it) that stuns for 2.5 seconds and is on ~10 second CD.

I think the main thing that changed between old Veigar and new is that the playstyle early game is completely different. Before, since you could throw up your E to instantly stun your lane opponent, it meant you could play really safe if you needed to, since if you get engaged on, you throw up your box, and back off. It also meant you could play aggressive and get kills since your stun was really easy to land. But now since his E is unreliable, and his Q is a skill shot, he lost a hell of a lot of kill pressure. Also since you cant instastun people who go aggressive on you, you lose a lot of safety. The delay on his E means you still take quite a bit of damage from aggressive champions since you cant instantly stun and disengage. However the fact that you can double stack minions on your Q means you're a lot like Nasus, but AP. Your goal is literally just to farm all early game, stack your Q, and survive, that's the big change.

The thing is people keep saying he's complete shit right now and unplayable, however I don't think they realize just how good his E still is. Sure you can't instastun people in lane, but in teamfights, it is an AMAZING teamfight mechanic. It is one of the best team disruption tools in the game that can be used to cut off the backline or stun them if they come too close. It can also be used to zone and disengage, or catch/trap people. Basically his E can do so much for your team. Best thing is that it's on a ~10 second CD at max rank with some CDR and stuns for 2.5 seconds... 2.5 seconds. That's almost as long as a morg binding. If you can make it out of laning phase, even a bit behind, you bring so much to the team fight with your E. I think Scarra said it best when he said something along the lines of: Veigar's E is better than most ultimates in the game and it's on a 10 second cooldown.

So do I think he's weaker or stronger after the rework? I definitely think he took a hit, but nerfing his E was necessary. He's now really difficult to take into some match ups since he lost so much lane safety, and his kill pressure was gutted quite a bit since his E is more outplayable 1v1, his Q is a skill shot and his R scaling got hit. His main goal is to stay safe and stack his Q, and if you can do that, you scale even harder after 2 items (you can have ~600 AP with death cap + another AP item). Overall I think he's still a very good champ that brings so much to teamfights IF you can get him out of the laning phase. So it might not be that smart to take him against lane bullies with good gap closers. However if you can play safe and stack his Q well, or are against a champion that doesn't have as much kill pressure on you, I definitely think he is viable right now and not as terrible as people say, and I'm going to keep playing him. Many people won't like just sitting and farming trying to play safe, but since I'm a Nasus player, I really don't mind.

TLDR

• Veigar's E nerfed b/c he was permabanned in Korean competitive since he was used as support and his E was too good
• Rework took away Veigar's kill pressure + safety since he cannot instastun targets anymore
• B/c of lost kill pressure and safety, his playstyle is just to farm, stack his Q, and survive early game
• His E is still VERY GOOD in team fights since it's like a ranged Thresh box that stuns and is on a 10 second cooldown
• If you can get him out of laning phase, what he brings to teamfights is insane since his E is still very good
• Therefore it might be best to play him into match ups where you know you can stay safe and just stack with his Q (think of it like Nasus, but your ranged, and your Q is ranged)